Macmillan Collector’s Library: The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, born in Lyon 29 June 1900, was a French writer and aviator. In 1921 he began his military service and trained as a pilot, and at the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the French Air Force flying reconnaissance missions. Later, he joined the Free French Forces but while flying a mission in the Rhone valley on 31 July 1944 he disappeared and was never seen again.

It was assumed that he was shot down over the Mediterranean. An unidentifiable body wearing French colours was found several days later and buried in Carqueiranne that September.